The Palmerton Area School District wanted nearly $2 million for a downtown Palmerton ball field.

Their only offer was for $5.

The modest proposal was scrawled in pencil on an unlined piece of white paper. It was signed Andrew Sabo, who is a kindergartner at Towamensing Elementary School.

Andrew’s offer also came with a picture of the 5-year-old and his teammates on the Palmerton youth flag football team. The team, which was undefeated last year in the Lehigh Valley Youth Football League, plays on the field that was for sale.

Andrew was not at the district’s administration offices Monday afternoon to see his bid opened. But reached at his home later, Andrew said he made his offer ”because they were selling the field,” and that his dad, Dave Sabo, gave him the $5 to make his offer.

Because Andrew’s bid was $1,949,995 less than the minimum sought, the Palmerton Area School Board will not consider it when it meets later this month, said board President Carl Bieling Jr. The board now must decide whether to open another bid process or keep the field for now.

The 3.7-acre ball field at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Seventh Street has been a point of controversy since a developer offered the school district $1.1 million last summer to build a Rite-Aid pharmacy on part of it.

Many residents objected to the school system selling off a community fixture that hosts many recreational teams. Other people thought the offer might be too good to pass up.

The school board eventually rejected the initial offer and decided to set a price of at least $1.95 million for 1.28 acres of the park. The contract also would have required the buyer to build new athletic fields and buildings on the remaining portion of the downtown park and at Palmerton’s middle and high school.

Andrew Sabo picked up on his parents’ conversations about the field and began to worry, his father said. He wanted to know what would happen to the field and where was his team going to play. Finally, he asked his parents if he could buy it.

”It was pretty much to shut him up,” Dave Sabo said. ”I made him understand: You’re not going to win.”

But the bid was not a total joke, Dave Sabo said. He hopes that the school board will recognize that Andrew and his teammates are among many children who enjoy the field and will be affected if it’s sold.

”Once you give up the ground, you’re never going to get it back,” he said, adding that, before the Rite-Aid developer came forward, no one had thought about selling the park.

Bieling said he was not too disappointed by the lack of bids. He initially opposed selling the field, but later said that he could see how a sale would benefit many people involved.

”It’s just another day,” he said.

Andrew is not worried that his bid lost. He has other plans for his $5.

TRACY, CA – Animal control officers in Tracy have been contacted by the owner of a 150-pound tortoise that was found wandering around a residential neighborhood Monday afternoon.

David Hay of Rocklin saw the story on News10.net and said in an e-mail, “I immediately knew that the tortoise belonged to my sister and her family who live on S. MacArthur Drive in Tracy.”

Hay wrote that his sister has had the tortoise for about 20 years. “I phoned my sister this morning and she is going to the animal shelter to retrieve Goliath (or “Tippy” as the shelter employees call him).”

Beth Palacios has seen just about every breed of dogs and cats at her job as an animal control officer for the Tracy Animal Shelter. She’s even seen a seal make its way to the shelter. But she’s never encountered what she was called to corral on Monday.

“Dogs and cats are our business,” said Palacios. “I was shocked.”

Derone Thrasher, who lives on south MacArthur Drive, called Palacios Monday afternoon. “There’s this giant turtle walking around and I could tell he was somebody’s pet,” said Thrasher. “If you walked he would just follow you. It was a weird experience.”

The turtle actually is a tortoise – a huge tortoise. “It was heavy,” said Thrasher. “My nephew and I did manage to get it into the truck.”

Beth soon showed up. “I stopped dead in my tracks,” she said. “I mean this thing is huge.” Beth figured the tortoise weighs about 150 pounds. “This is the first we’ve had to deal with a tortoise of this size.”

After some checking on the Internet, Beth discovered the tortoise, which the shelter workers named Tippy, is an African Sulcata. According to Peteducation.com, the African Sulcata tortoise (Geochelone sulcata), or African Spurred tortoise, is surpassed in size only by the giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands and Seychelles.

Palacios said she’s thrilled Goliath will be reunited with his owner. “The woman said she thinks her husband may have left a gate open,” said Palacios. “They’ll be here to pick him up this afternoon.”

Beth says Tippy, a.k.a. Goliath, has a special place in her heart. “It’s cool that I get to see different animals besides cats and dogs,” she said. “I would rather deal with Tippy any day than a mean Rottweiler.”

“He was a hazard,” said a Gardens dispatcher, and apparently causing quite a traffic back up to boot.

The fuzzy culprit turned out to be the Buzz Bunny, who is promoting Buzz 103.1 FM’s upcoming adult Easter egg hunt.

He was standing on the overpass just south of Donald Ross Road and waving down at drivers.

“I’m going to have to have a talk with the bunny,” said the station’s promotions director Brett Russell. “Obviously we don’t mean to do that.”

The bunny was called in by a Gardens police officer shortly before 8:40 a.m., according to dispatchers.

This was the bunny’s second appearance. He was out yesterday as well and will be popping up all over the county until the big hunt on Singer Island March 15, Russell said. The station scatters 1,031 plastic eggs on the beach with the tickets to a variety of prizes within.

The bunny does make an impression.

“He’s a pretty big bunny. In fact, he barely fits in the suit,” Russell said with a snicker. As for where he’ll turn up next: “The Buzz Bunny is unpredictable. We never know where he’ll go.”

We’re guessing not on an I-95 overpass.

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